


Friends in low places

by FaiaHae



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, Nobody burned aubrey's house down her parents are fine we're all GOOD HERE, Prompt Fill, and by coworkers I mean friends, and by family I mean your weird fucking coworkers, junoduck if you squint really really hard, taking your boyfriend home to meet the family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 12:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaiaHae/pseuds/FaiaHae
Summary: Boyd's out of prison, and that means Ned can't avoid introducing him to his friends any longer





	Friends in low places

After a year and 3 months, Aubrey Little had finally had it. Ned was drying a mug, waxing rhapsodical about his anniversary in Honolulu (Ned had been very vague about how they’d  _ gotten _ to Honolulu, had certainly not mentioned a plane, but that was beside the point). 

 

“Ned.” She cut him off.

 

“Bring your husband to work.”

 

Ned choked.

 

“I-”

 

Duck turned on his heel, adding- “Yeah, seriously. I know he’s out on parole by now.”

 

“He’s  _ what?” _

 

Ned ignored Aubrey, giving Duck a flat look. Duck looked vaguely apologetic.

 

“How did you even know that?” Ned asked. 

 

Duck shrugged.

 

“I have my sources.”

 

“Juno told you, didn’t she.”

  
Aubrey raised her eyebrows.

 

“Who’s Juno?”

 

“A- A friend. Nobody.” Duck looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock, but to be fair, that was usually how he looked when he needed to lie about...absolutely anything. 

 

“She works as a guard at the prison.” Ned commented, turning to Aubrey. “She probably wasn’t supposed to tell Duck that.”   
  


“She- she didn’t tell me any-anything.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

Aubrey took advantage of Ned ignoring Duck to go in for the kill.   
  
“So when are we gonna get to meet him?”

Ned looked pained.

 

“This isn’t exactly his....scene.” He gestured vaguely at the menu board behind him, in curling white cursive, and the cross stitch next to it that read “ _ recovery takes time, but it must be a priority.” _

 

Aubrey gave that a moment of silence, out of respect, because really- the sheer passive aggression of that cross-stitch rivaled anything she would ever accomplish. Barclay had come in fuming, with bleeding fingers, and Aubrey was pretty sure the tiny stitched roses had been dyed in blood.

 

“Yeah, uh, point taken.”

 

“So maybe we should go somewhere.” Duck cut in, seeming to have taken the time to compose himself again. “Out to get a drink or- uh- Aubrey how old are-”

 

“23.” Aubrey deadpanned. “Didn’t you hire me?”

 

“Technically no.” Mused Ned, picking up another mug and side-eyeing the cross-stitch.

 

“He keeps turning down the promotion, he’s not technically a manager. Which is cool because it means we can  _ actually  _ hang out without Mama glaring at us.”

 

“Aren’t you a manager?”

 

“I was demoted.”

 

“For what?”

 

Ned just hummed, so Aubrey turned to Duck, who was staring very intently at his shoes. She took a step across the floor and leaned against the counter next to him, and waited.

 

“-He fucked up the marshmallow order.”

  
“Dammit, Duck!”

 

Aubrey looked out over the front display case, which was currently packed with about 200 individually packaged containers of homemade marshmallows.

 

“Huh.”

 

“Anyway, supporting local business aside-” Ned sighed.

 

“Yeah. We can go out for dinner, if you’re both free.”

 

Aubrey did her happy dance, and Duck gave a single, solemn nod, and Ned  _ really hoped he didn’t regret this. _

 

_ __ _

 

Ned didn’t warn Boyd, because honestly, there was probably nothing in the world that could emotionally prepare someone for Aubrey Little. He just texted Boyd to meet him at the Amnesty Pub, and appreciated that the look Boyd gave him when he walked in with two people in tow was only a  _ little bit _ exasperated.

 

Aubrey caught sight of him immediately, and let out a little gasp, grabbing his arm. 

 

“Ned, how did you bag  _ him? _ ”

 

Ned was  _ certain _ Boyd had heard that, but his husband just slid into the booth as they crossed to him.

 

“...luck.” Ned managed, sliding in next to Boyd and feeling immediately better once Boyd threw his arm around Ned’s shoulders.

 

“You sell yourself short, love.”   
  
Aubrey gasped even louder at the sound of Boyd’s accent, and Ned regretted every decision he’d made in his life that had led him up to this point.

 

“Oh my god, you’re  _ British?? _ ”

 

“Unfortunately.” Boyd grinned, oozing an easy charm, and Ned ignored the way Aubrey looked even more charmed by the flash of his gold tooth.

 

“That’s so  _ cool. _ ”

 

“I try.”

 

Duck cleared his throat, uncomfortable, and stuck out his hand.

  
“I’m Duck Newton. It’s a nickname.”

 

“Boyd Mosche. It’s an alias.” 

 

Boyd delivered that line with such a deadpan that Duck and Aubrey both took a moment to try to figure out if he was serious, realized they couldn’t, and gave up.

 

Boyd shook Duck’s hand and offered his to Aubrey.

  
“And you must be Aubrey.”

 

“How did you know??? Does Ned talk about me??”

 

“N-”

  
“Yes.” Boyd cut him off. “He mentioned your magic tricks in his letters.”

 

“You wrote him letters? Like to the  _ prison? _ ” 

 

Boyd turned to Ned at that, raising an eyebrow, and Ned put his head in his hands.

  
“Juno.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“I- I never- never said-”

 

“Seriously Duck, don’t strain yourself.” Aubrey patted him on the shoulder. Ned sighed so heavily he thought he might choke, but as he looked up to Boyd to apologize, he felt Boyd’s arm drop to his waist and pull Ned closer to his side.

 

“Actually, about the guess your card one, I’ve always wondered how to do that-”

 

The rest of the evening passed easily, and Ned felt more at home then he had in a long time.

 

Maybe this hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. 


End file.
